The invention relates to a method for retrieving the shut state and/or the location of a closable container and to a container of this kind.
From the state of the art, generic containers are known as outer packaging for goods, for example. The known containers are provided with an RFID chip and with an antenna connected thereto, allowing signals and energy in the radio-frequency range to be received via the antenna, the received energy being used to generate a corresponding response signal by means of the RFID chip, and said response signal allowing bidirectional communication with a read/write device. In common technologies, the antennas are tuned to the RFID chips in such a manner that communication with a read/write device is possible in specific frequency ranges in each case, such as in the ultrahigh frequency range or in the microwave frequency range (UHF or SF frequency range). The combination of an RFID chip and an antenna is commonly called an RFID tag or an RFID transponder, RFID standing for radio frequency identification.
In generic methods, containers of this kind are used together with external read/write devices, also known as sending and/or receiving units. Usually, the sending unit generates and sends out a signal which is received by the corresponding antennas of the containers, whereupon a corresponding response signal is generated. These response signals of the containers or, more precisely, of the antennas connected to the containers are received by corresponding receiving units and are processed as required.
Corresponding containers and methods using containers of this kind are suitable for theft protection of items, for example. Just as well, the known containers and the corresponding methods can also be used in the logistical field or in other fields in order to determine the location of the container or passage of a certain area by the container by correspondingly positioning the sending and/or receiving units.
However, the known devices and methods are disadvantageous in that while they are capable of determining or at least narrowing down the location of the corresponding container, they do not provide any information regarding the state of the container. Still, closable containers are employed in very many applications where not only the location of the container but also the shut state and a distinction between an open position and a closed position of the container and the repeated transition between the two states is of particular interest for handling and use of the goods and items stored in the respective containers as well as for the implementation of the methods outlined above. This applies, for example but not exclusively, to containers in which perishable goods and items or goods and items of otherwise limited storage life are stored and to containers that are supposed to function not only as packaging but also as theft protection.
In the field of theft protection, it is known practice, moreover, not to equip the packaging or the container in which an item is located with a corresponding RFID chip including an antenna, but to apply the RFID tag to the item directly. However, this has the disadvantage that security devices are easily visible and, additionally, that the desire for easy removal of the tags after purchase clashes with the desire for difficult removal of the tag prior to an intended theft. Furthermore, the visual appearance of the product is adversely affected by the application of RFID chips and of the connected antennas to the item itself.